Homegrown Micromax, Intex and Karbon in addition to HTC and Gionee were the fastest depleting handset brands in Q2, 2018, losing to Chinese rivals led by Xiaomi which contributed 36.9% new device additions in the country, a new CMR finding said.

According to the study, Micromax lost 41.2%, Intex 11.6%, HTC 5.5% and Karbonn 5.3% market share in Q2, 2018.

Kanika Jain, Manager, New Initiatives at CMR said “This is a very grave situation for such brands as they cannot work on any strategy to monetise on the base as it continues to deplete every quarter”.

The report revealed that Xiaomi added 36.9% devices in Q2, 2018, followed by Vivo, Oppo, itel and Huawei’s Honor that demonstrates dominance of Chinese brands in the Indian market and apparently making local brands struggle for survival.

“Customer stickiness is the paramount concern that home grown brands need to address immediately. Consumers continue to swap their existing Smartphones with the new ones offered by Chinese brands resulting in fast erosion of total installed base of the local Indian brands,” Jain added.

The study also identifies that the replacement market continues to grow in the country and as of Q2, 2018 with 59% of the smartphones sold were actually upgrades/replacements of existing smartphones.

There is still 41% of new smartphone market development occurring in the country, which could be a pie that the domestic brands should focus upon, Gurgaon-based firm in a statement said.

The finding also attributed the development to the ongoing competition due to cannibalisation of fusion phones, especially in the smartphone range of up to Rs 4,000.

The report is based on the analysis of over 200 million users across the country, where the device movements of users are captured and analysed using big data analytics techniques.